Star Trek: Enterprise's Captain Archer, Scott Bakula, is looking forward to singing onstage in the Civil War musical Shenandoah at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC - the site of President Lincoln's assassination at the end of the war.

Project Quantum Leap has posted a new interview from The Observer with Bakula about the show, in which Bakula will play Charlie Anderson after having made his professional debut in 1976 in a production of Shenandoah and eventually playing most of the supporting male roles in the show. "I’ve played many different parts, and it was different every time," he said. "But Charlie carries the show. It’s really about what happens to him and to his family."

Describing the role as very demanding vocally, Bakula explained that it is also "a big journey emotionally for a couple of hours on stage, and I’m out there a lot. It's a lot of work." However, he finds it "extremely relevant now, just as it was in the 70’s coming out of Vietnam era...it's emotional, and very thought-provoking and gut-wrenching in many ways."

The new production is the conception of Jeff Calhoun, who directed a production of Big River at Ford's Theatre last year. "He said he wanted to do Shenandoah, and I don’t know why, he said he wanted to do it with me," Bakula said. "He didn't know my history with the show. He had no idea that I had done it before...he has really fresh eyes, which is very important, and at the same time, I’ve seen and done it ten different ways, if he has any questions. It’s a good combination."

The complete interview with Bakula will be available in the April issue of The Observer. Thanks to Project Quantum Leap for the excerpts.

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